Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Umar Niazi When you watch the full movie (I know you wouldn't) you'll suffer from anger and anxiety, because after the first half the things won't go in your way. And during the second half, most probably you'll quit watching the movie or you'll break the screen. I think the director was confused himself, like he started a good story and in the middle he was confused how to end it. So the best way he could find was to let the hero die with the bullet of his girlfriend's father. And the good reason that was given to the father to kill his daughter's boyfriend at the end was the fact that the boyfriend accidentally shot his girlfriend, so the father has to seek revenge or something like that. I don't know what the director wanted to tell the people about Harlan. Was he trying to tell that Harlan was a psychopath or was he trying to tell that Harlan was an ambitious & able guy who made a big mistake and didn't want to or wasn't able to accept it. The director couldn't made that clear. Because he has shown a sudden unpredictable behavior of Harlan, so i considered him a psychopath in the second half of the movie.Although the first half of the movie was really interesting and worth watching. The way that Harlan fell in love with Tobe was fabulous. And later how Harlan tries to convince Tobe's father about his personality and how his fate picturizes him in front of Tobe's father was really an interesting stuff to watch. But later the director wasn't able to handle the story. All the good taste developed in the first half was vanished in the second half.Another confusing thing was that the girl 'Tobe' didn't want to go with her boyfriend when he asks him to leave his father. It's not the thing the she didn't trust him or she was afraid of him. It's not like that because the Director David Jacobson showed a huge amount of passion in their relationship in the first half. And then the sudden unpredictable and stupid act of Harlan made me out of my mind, what i mean is that no matter what happens nobody can shoot the one whom he loves. What kind of heart he has got. These kind of issues in the movie are not explained in a good fashion leaving tangling questions in people's minds.And at last at the ending quarter of the movie, Harlan wasn't ready to accept his mistake so he took a kid (Tobe's step brother) with him. What's the point in that? Such a stupid ending. I would say if David Jacobson had thought about the story in a fresh air and calm environment he would do a lot better.

pc95 Usually Edward Norton movies are good or very good. Unfortunately, "Down in the Valley" directed and written by David Jacobson is neither of the above. The movie has a bit of a problem with meandering, but that's not the principle problem. No the main problem that dragged the movie down was implausible character reactions, situations, and thinking. How could the young Culkin character continually follow a guns-blazin' emotionally ripped up idiot over his own father? Not just once but at least a few times. Where did the Norton character learn to shoot so well? The report came in as him being involved in burglary. Didn't the Tobe character figure out he was fraudulent on first go-round with the horse? How much older is Norton than Wood - easily 12-15 years.... Anyway, you could keep going - the movie is frenetic in a bad way. Not really memorable nor good, although you could find worse.

ThatDoesntMatter You don't betray your 'hero' 2/3 into the movie...because you are betraying the audience as well, and while twists can be interesting, this one was, while surprising, so off-putting, that I lost all interest - and it wasn't that much at that point anyway...The film starts veeeerrryyyy slow. Nothing happens, oh, okay, an indie flick with pretentious cinematography and a bunch of Valley losers - boring and depressing...and I mind the boring part much more than the depressing part!A cardboard cut-out volatile dad whose character is not developed at all. A teenage daughter who, while in conflict with daddy, is not really a rebel at all, just a leeeetle easy... A younger half-brother or something who has anxieties from who knows where, I suspected daddy of wrongdoing, but it turned out dad's just a little neglecting and over-protective, but essentially a good guy...great.A cowboy from South Dakota who's not a cowboy from South Dakota but a Jewish ex con from the Valley, and a psychopath to boot. Puh- leeeze, are you kidding me?So, forget the first hour, forget the love story, he shoots her and goes off without caring what happens to her...hello??? Why would I care what he does after that??? I mean, except repenting or something...or being responsible for his actions, something he professed to believe in in another movie - the one of the first hour...haha, how funny, it was all a show...NOT funny, NOT shocking, JUST boring.Oh my, what did this movie want to be???Bad script.And I love Ed, I really do, and he IS great in this (until that stupid twist, then it all slides downhill...), but I really wish I hadn't wasted my time with this film...

Neil Turner Edward Norton is superior in portraying young, edgy characters, and he has scored another home run in this film. He plays Harlan who is enamored of cowboys and the code of the Old West. Harlan is definitely out of place in contemporary metropolitan Los Angeles.Tobe - a nickname for October - is the typical lower-middle-class Valley Girl who disagrees with her father about, basically, everything. She expresses her disagreement with her foul mouth and numerous little acts of defiance. Evan Rachel Wood creates a character in Tobe with whom the viewer has great sympathy because she is really a good-hearted teenager looking for her identity. Her scenes with her younger brother are especially touching.Rory Culkin plays the younger brother, Lonnie, who is beset by almost crippling insecurity due to an emotionally distant father and the fact that he is very small for his thirteen years.There is no mention of a mother, but the father is skillfully played by David Morse as a man who cares for the welfare of both of his children but has absolutely no clue as to how to deal with the tender egos of two adolescents. It's as though he has never read a book or seen a television show about the problems of children in today's world. He simply blunders stupidly forward making one wrong martinet-like decision after the other.The plot of the film - in the first two-thirds, at least - is basically pat. A teenager meets a charming young man from the West who is displaced in Los Angeles. He is full of dreams and shares those with the girl - and importantly - with her emotionally scarred younger brother. The father is very suspicious of the relationship.The last third of the film severely weakens a very good start in that it resolves all of these conflicts with some totally unbelievable actions on the part of all the characters. Because some of the events are so surreal, the viewer might come to suspect that some are taking place only in the minds of the participants, but there is no indication that this is so.Down in the Valley is flawed by overdone climatic scenes, but the general feel of the film is entertaining and worthwhile. Edward Norton is a bit long in the tooth for the character he portrays, but his acting is so superior that you forgive this flaw. This is a good movie with an insightful interview of Norton and Jacobson on the DVD - worthwhile entertainment.